Will eternity be nonstop work all the time?

[Guest]

Whenever I hear what it's going to be like in eternity it sounds like we'll be working all the time for eternity. Do you think we'll be working all the time or do you think we'll have plenty of opportunity to have fun and do enjoyable things?

[Traveler]

1 hour ago, Zarahemla said:

Whenever I hear what it's going to be like in eternity it sounds like we'll be working all the time for eternity. Do you think we'll be working all the time or do you think we'll have plenty of opportunity to have fun and do enjoyable things?

 

Some people work at having fun and some have fun working.   I guess it depends if you look at accomplishing great and wonderful things as work or having fun.

 

The Traveler

[JohnsonJones]

I think you'll be resting at least 1/7 of the time...but I could be wrong.  I have been before.

The work may also differ from what one thinks of work here.  Perhaps you'll be given the job of heavenly messageboard moderator/call center technical wizard where you get everyone's complaints about their work schedules in written form...

Or, perhaps you'll have to raise children after you keep having these spiritual offspring, which may be a type of work you want to do...and after that you may have to create worlds and build ecosystems and habitats where they can live in a physical body and follow in your footsteps and such.

Who knows, but I suspect some of the work may include some items like that in the eternities.

Edited March 29, 2017 by JohnsonJones

[anatess2]

We will be working all the time on enjoyable things.  So, if you don't find working on God's Kingdom enjoyable, you have the rest of your life to learn to enjoy it.  Sure gives new meaning to Visit Teaching, doesn't it?

[Guest]

Work is joy when you love what you're doing. I think we'll all be busy filling a need doing something we love. 

[person0]

It could be stated that any given President of the United States works all the time, or at least is 'on the clock' all the time.  However, how often do they go golfing and on vacation?

After Christ was resurrected he ate food, sounds fun to me!

The real question is:  Will we make our bacon synthetically or will we import it from another world? 

[Fether]

6 hours ago, Zarahemla said:

Whenever I hear what it's going to be like in eternity it sounds like we'll be working all the time for eternity. Do you think we'll be working all the time or do you think we'll have plenty of opportunity to have fun and do enjoyable things?

“A Saint who is one in deed and in truth, does not look for an immaterial heaven, but he expects a heaven with lands, houses, cities, vegetation, rivers, and animals; with thrones, temples, palaces, kings, princes, priests, and angels; with food, raiment, musical instruments, etc., all of which are material. Indeed, the Saints’ heaven is a redeemed, glorified, celestial, material creation, inhabited by glorified material beings, male and female, organized into families, embracing all the relationships of husbands and wives, parents and children, where sorrow, crying, pain, and death will be no more. Or to speak still more definitely, this earth, when glorified, is the Saints’ eternal heaven. On it they expect to live, with body, parts, and holy passions; on it they expect to move and have their being; to eat, drink, converse, worship, sing, play on musical instruments, engage in joyful, innocent, social amusements, visit neighboring towns and neighboring worlds; indeed, matter and its qualities and properties are the only beings or things with which they expect to associate”
- Orson Pratt

 

"We should each find the proper balance between work, recreation, and rest. There is an old saying: “Doing nothing is the hardest work of all, because one can never stop to rest.” Without work, rest and relaxation have no meaning.
Not only is it pleasant and necessary to rest, but we are commanded to rest on the Sabbath day (see Exodus 20:10; D&C 59:9–12). This day of rest after each six days of labor brings refreshment for the days that follow. The Lord also promises the “fulness of the earth” to those who observe the Sabbath day (see D&C 59:16–20; see also chapter 24 in this book).
On other days of the week, in addition to working, we may spend time to improve our talents and enjoy our hobbies, recreation, or other activities that will refresh us"

- Gospel Principles ch. 27

 

I do believe that we will find great joy I  the good and the work we do. But it also seems to me that there will be a lot of rest and free time. We won't be glutting ourselves with it, but an eternity of unending work, even if we could bare it, doesn't sound doctrinal me

 

Edited March 29, 2017 by Fether

[Sunday21]

@Zarahemla I know how you feel! I was hoping for some naps myself! I would like to read some novels and walk a celestial dog. Many scriptures promise us rest. I am sometimes a bit daunted so my friends have read me scriptures about rest in the hereafter. Don't worry! God will keep his promises.

[person0]

10 hours ago, Zarahemla said:

Whenever I hear what it's going to be like in eternity it sounds like we'll be working all the time for eternity. Do you think we'll be working all the time or do you think we'll have plenty of opportunity to have fun and do enjoyable things?

While I personally believe there will be rest and opportunities to enjoy life in other ways besides our work like what @Fether showed from Orson Pratt, one interesting question to help relieve stress about the idea of 24/7 work would be to consider what will become of those who enter outer darkness?  If in the celestial kingdom are intended to be working all the time, will they then be doing absolutely nothing all the time?

I think a lot of the value in your initial question comes from a natural concern that could be phrased kind of like, 'why would I want to do that?'.  No one wants to work all of the time right.  However, if you had to choose between literally working all the time and literally doing nothing all the time, which would you choose (even pretending for a minute that the doing nothing still took place in an eternally peaceful and pleasant environment)?  I would argue that all things being considered, most people would choose the work.

[estradling75]

Genesis 2:2  And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

[Guest]

If you're afraid of work, don't get married.

If you're afraid of work, don't have children.

If you're afraid of work, don't try to improve yourself and try to emulate Jesus Christ.

If you're afraid of work, don't seek to make the world a better place.

If you're afraid of work, don't try to be a business owner.

If you're afraid of work, don't ever seek any leadership position in church, profession, community, or anywhere.

If you're afraid of work, don't ever try to change anything, especially yourself.

If you're afraid of work, don't ever, ever, try to be a success at anything.

If you're afraid of work, don't ever do anything useful, or meaningful at all.

[Rob Osborn]

10 hours ago, Zarahemla said:

Whenever I hear what it's going to be like in eternity it sounds like we'll be working all the time for eternity. Do you think we'll be working all the time or do you think we'll have plenty of opportunity to have fun and do enjoyable things?

It will be similar to our experience here. We will have times when we work, when we rest, when we enjoy entertainment, etc.

[The Folk Prophet]

11 hours ago, Zarahemla said:

Whenever I hear what it's going to be like in eternity it sounds like we'll be working all the time for eternity. Do you think we'll be working all the time or do you think we'll have plenty of opportunity to have fun and do enjoyable things?

To me this is like a two year old expressing concern over not being able to color when they grow up.

[person0]

21 minutes ago, The Folk Prophet said:

To me this is like a two year old expressing concern over not being able to color when they grow up.

Excellent analogy.  Regardless of what we are expected to do in the eternities, by the time we get there we will be prepared and more than willing.  We will not miss our proverbial coloring books (although don't they have those new adult coloring books now? )

[The Folk Prophet]

Just now, lds_person_0 said:

(although don't they have those new adult coloring books now? )

Yes. That is analogous to telestial beings.

[zil]

2 hours ago, estradling75 said:

Genesis 2:2  And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/understanding-genesis-and-the-temple/  (it's a review of a book by a non-member, but it shares interesting ideas about the creation and the seventh day).

Quote

For example, Walton proposes that in spite of the obvious focus on creation, Genesis 1 is actually temple-centric and that the most important day to the Israelites was the seventh day, in which nothing is created. Deities rested in temples and only in temples; that God rested on the seventh day meant that he had entered the cosmic temple “constructed” in the previous six days, that God “is taking command, that he is mounting his throne to assume his rightful place and his proper role” (74). Stability, order, and life result. Walton here likens functional creation and the Sabbath to “getting a new computer and spending focused time setting it up (placing the equipment, connecting the wires, installing the software). After all of those tasks were done, you would disengage from the process, mostly so you could now engage in the new tasks of actually using the computer. That is what it had been set up for.” (75) He further offers a devotional aspect of this understanding of the Sabbath. God asks us on the Sabbath “to recognize that he is at the controls, not us. When we ‘rest’ on the Sabbath, we recognize him as the author of order and the one who brings rest (stability) to our lives and world. We take our hands off the control and acknowledge him as the one who is in control” (146).

This idea and a separate study of scriptural references to the Sabbath, have altered my perception of the purpose of the other six days of my week and of the seventh day.  I'm still working on modifying my behavior to more fully match my new perception.

[Fether]

5 hours ago, Sunday21 said:

@Zarahemla I know how you feel! I was hoping for some naps myself! I would like to read some novels and walk a celestial dog. Many scriptures promise us rest. I am sometimes a bit daunted so my friends have read me scriptures about rest in the hereafter. Don't worry! God will keep his promises.

I strongly believe that all arts will exist in the celestial kingdom, including and not limited to painting, writing and music. I also believe there will be sport. I don't know of any teaching that takes away from this believe (but also none that directly support it except the quote I brought up by Orson Pratt).

[Rob Osborn]

Many Mormons will be surprised when we get to heaven and find out our Heavenly Father can play the electric guitar like nobodies business!

Edited March 29, 2017 by Rob Osborn

[Vort]

15 hours ago, Zarahemla said:

Whenever I hear what it's going to be like in eternity it sounds like we'll be working all the time for eternity. Do you think we'll be working all the time or do you think we'll have plenty of opportunity to have fun and do enjoyable things?

The scriptures are replete with assurance that, for the exalted, the eternities will be pleasurable and enjoyable beyond anything we can comprehend here. For just one example of literally hundreds, consider my favorite verse of scripture, 1 Corinthians 2:9:

Quote

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

The very last thing we will ever have to concern ourselves with is being bored, overworked, or otherwise unhappy in the celestial realm.

[mordorbund]

4 hours ago, The Folk Prophet said:

To me this is like a two year old expressing concern over not being able to color when they grow up.

Elder Cook has expressed similar thoughts:

Quote

When our children were small, my wife, Mary, and I decided to follow a tradition which my father taught when I was a child. He would meet with us individually to help us set goals in various aspects of our lives and then teach us how Church, school, and extracurricular activities would help us achieve those goals. He had three rules:

1. We needed to have worthwhile goals.
2. We could change our goals at any time.
3. Whatever goal we chose, we had to diligently work towards it.

Having been the beneficiary of this tradition, I had the desire to engage in this practice with my children. When our son, Larry, was five years old, I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. He said he wanted to be a doctor like his Uncle Joe. Larry had experienced a serious operation and had acquired great respect for doctors, especially his Uncle Joe. I proceeded to tell Larry how all the worthwhile things he was doing would help prepare him to be a doctor.

Several months later, I asked him again what he would like to be. This time he said he wanted to be an airline pilot. Changing the goal was fine, so I proceeded to explain how his various activities would help him achieve this goal. Almost as an afterthought I said, “Larry, last time we talked you wanted to be a doctor. What has changed your mind?” He answered, “I still like the idea of being a doctor, but I have noticed that Uncle Joe works on Saturday mornings, and I wouldn’t want to miss Saturday Morning Cartoons.”

Since that time our family has labeled a distraction from a worthwhile goal as a Saturday Morning Cartoon.

 

[The Folk Prophet]

45 minutes ago, mordorbund said:

Elder Cook has expressed similar thoughts:

 

This is my read on people who say things like, "If we have to do such-n-such (*cough*polygamy*cough*) in the Celestial Kingdom then I wouldn't want to be there anyhow."

Don't want to miss our cartoons!

[Blackmarch]

23 hours ago, Zarahemla said:

Whenever I hear what it's going to be like in eternity it sounds like we'll be working all the time for eternity. Do you think we'll be working all the time or do you think we'll have plenty of opportunity to have fun and do enjoyable things?

And on the seventh day God rested.

I think we will have botth meaningful work and meaningful rest.

[JohnsonJones]

14 hours ago, Vort said:

The scriptures are replete with assurance that, for the exalted, the eternities will be pleasurable and enjoyable beyond anything we can comprehend here. For just one example of literally hundreds, consider my favorite verse of scripture, 1 Corinthians 2:9:

The very last thing we will ever have to concern ourselves with is being bored, overworked, or otherwise unhappy in the celestial realm.

Something wicked (meaning this is NOT what I believe, but it's a thought) came to mind.  What happens if we are drugged?  By that I mean that we may hate doing it if given our own devices, but due to some external influence (in this world it can be done with drugs, in the next probably much more effectively with other devices) we are given a high doing that thing? 

Is that good or bad?

For example, if I could choose my eternity (and I may not be that wise about it) I would choose to be in a library full of books that are mine to read at my leisure (as a historian I get a tad anal about keeping old texts and such in very good shape with very careful handling of the books that most would think is extreme).  What I hate in this life is the pressure to go do sales.  I absolutely HATE retail sales and doing that type of work (I just don't feel right half the time with the upsale and other things they want).  For me, doing nothing would be better than being a used car salesman.

However, imagine in heaven, for some odd reason my ability to really do what I'd love to do is gone, and I have a compulsion (like drugs) to do the work assigned to be a used car salesman (I HIGHLY doubt they actually have a job of being a used car salesman in heaven...just for the record...this is hypothetical).  I feel glorious for some odd reason (the drugs), but it's not true to who I am or who or what I would actually want to be doing if given the same free will I have on earth.

Is that heaven or hell?

Perhaps the concern expressed could deal with the idea that we may be doing work that if given the free will we have on earth, is something that would be sort of hellish to us in reality, even if we are filled with pleasure doing it.

Now, just for the record, I DO NOT BELIEVE the above will be something that will happen.  In reality I don't know what heaven is like (have this thing called a veil that made me forget some stuff, and I haven't been to heaven after that to see what it really is like), but I don't believe it will be like what I just described.

It's just a thought that came to mind as I was reading this thread and thought...what if?